Exchange
by Prince Darkcloud
Summary: Ace is trying to express his unexpected feelings towards Zoro, but the handsome Spaniard just can't seem to get his feelings through to him. AceZo


**Warning**: Some parts are in my shitty ass Spanish. Native speakers, please don't take offense and don't hesitate to correct me. I switched to English at one point cause the Spanish would've just been one huge mess. ^^; Oh, and there's a blip of translator French too ^^;

*EDIT: the Spanish has been fixed~

ENJOY!

-PD

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><p><strong><span>Exchange<span>**

A young, Spanish lad had an extra spring in his step as he walked through one of the cobblestone plazas on his way to work in his beloved city of Barcelona. He had his hands in the pockets of his black shorts, his dark red, sleeveless shirt hugged his muscular frame, and his shark's tooth necklace bounced about on his chest as he weaved between tourists and civilians alike. He was blocking out the rest of the world by blasting an English rap song through his headphones, even though he could hardly understand a word they were saying. He'd never been good at languages, but at least the beat was good. The bitter smell of coffee drifted in front of his nose, soon followed by the delicate fragrance of freshly made pastries. He figured he could be a few minutes late to work.

He followed his nose as it led him through the crowds of people until he was standing outside a little street café. He walked up to the barista and ordered a steaming cup of coffee and several churros, some filled with jam and some with cream: his favorite breakfast. He'd intended to eat on the go, but an unusual site kept him from moving another inch. Sitting at one of the tables was a man who was about his age, but with the some of the most stunningly colored hair he'd ever seen. There was a half empty cup of no longer steaming coffee next to him and a plate with only crumbs left beside that. The man was hunched over what appeared to be a textbook, a notebook, and several highlighted and annotated documents. A student, perhaps?

Ace maneuvered himself around the tables until he was at such an angle that he would be able to see the man's face if the man were to look up. Disappointingly enough, all that could be seen was the top of a green-haired head and the protuberance of a nose from a tanned face. Ace was standing behind one table while the mysterious man sat hunched over at another right in front of Ace's. One would think it'd be easy enough to notice the black haired man, but in this case, it would appear that the opposing theory held true. Holding on to the edge of the table, Ace squatted down, trying to peer up at the face, but to no avail. Gaining confidence, and irritation alike, Ace left his table and went around to this mysterious person's. He stood there a moment, but remained, still, unnoticed. Feeling the annoyance build up, Ace finally decided to try obnoxiously clearing his throat, and it was only then that the man, who'd been working so diligently the entire time, noticed that he had company.

"¡Hola!" Ace greeted. "Buenos dias."

The man stuttered a moment before offering a shaky 'buenos dias' in return.

While sipping on his still piping hot coffee, Ace watched as those dark eyes darted back and forth in obvious discomfort; he was looking for a way to escape from Ace's scrutinizing gaze. To break the silence, and to invite more conversation, Ace decided to introduce himself. "Me llamo Ace." A longer than comfortable pause followed when the student didn't answer. "¿Cómo te llamas?"

"...Zoro l'Olonnais(1)."

"Zorro?" Ace quirked an eyebrow and smiled; this guy certainly was interesting. It wasn't everyday you met someone named 'fox' at an outdoor café. He decided that it was vital to learn more about this mysterious green-haired fox. "Encantado de conocerte. ¿Puedo sentarme aquí?(2)" Ace gestured to the chair sitting opposite the man.

"Ah, uh, si." He hesitantly gestured for Ace to have a seat.

"Ah, gracias!" Ace placed his coffee and churros down on the tabletop before looking up into Zoro's face. He studied the Frenchman – at least Ace assumed he was French, given his surname – for a moment: a sharp nose, a well-etched frown line, incredibly dark yet beautiful brown eyes, tanned skin, three golden earrings in one ear, and a cute, little mole on his right cheekbone. Of course there was that undeniably green hair of his, but such a notable feature really didn't need mentioning. Overall, Ace decided, the man certainly didn't _look_ very stereotypically French. To Ace, the man looked more like himself: a Spaniard. Yes that was it, born and raised in Spain to Spanish parents, but with a French last name. Of course that was it! Though an outsider might pin it to some sort of patriotic egotism: that all beautiful people hailed from your personal country of origin. Perhaps that's looking too far into things. "You know, Zoro," Ace continued in his sultry Spanish, "this is going to sound silly, but when I saw you, it was like I was pulled along on a string. I couldn't resist coming over here..." He laughed nervously, "God, that sounds cheesy..." Eyes downcast, he pulled out one of the cream filled churros and swirled it in his coffee before taking a bite. He dared a glance back up at the student, who, to Ace's disappointment, was looking at him as if he'd just been telling him about the weather; a complete poker face.

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Ace tried again. "Well I mean, sometimes a connection between two people is so strong that it's like they can't stay away from each other. Like, destiny brought them together because fate had intended it to be. It was like...I fell in love at first sight..." Ace waited for a response, but he didn't get one. Zoro's eyes wandered for a moment before returning to babbling Spaniard. Ace shifted in his chair awkwardly. If his confession had no impact on the man before him, then what could? He should have walked away then, but he felt glued to the spot, and his mouth was opening itself again without any consent from his brain. "Do you believe in fate?" His words were rushed. He took a deep breath and began again. "I don't know if I really do, but...I mean I've never felt so compelled to talk to someone before. I'm not exactly the 'open' or 'bubbly' type, but I felt like...if I didn't stop and say something I would have...I dunno...like I would've missed out on something...great." Ace continued staring into that unchanging face. The most the face changed was to frown a little bit, as if he didn't understand what Ace was saying.

Ace looked down at his watch and sighed dismally when he realized that he'd probably be closer to being 15 minutes late at this rate. "Uhm, look, I really have to leave now to go to work, but uh..." He searched his pockets for a pen, but realized he hadn't one on him. "Can I borrow your pen?" The green-haired man quickly reached to give him a pen and a sheet of paper from his notebook as well. _'Well it would seem that he can understand what I'm saying, so its not like he's a foreigner...'_ Ace thought to himself as he scrawled down his name and phone number. "Uh, give me a call sometime. I'd like to see you again." He smiled and bashfully looked away, grabbing his breakfast before hurrying off through the crowds, disappearing from the confused student's sight.

"J'ai trouvé le crétin!" Zoro turned around at the French words—words that seemed to really stand out in the Spanish city—to see a blonde man leading a group of other worried people, hurrying towards him. "Zoro, we have been looking all over for you!" The man called in heavily accented English as he waved down the green-haired student. "I have to get all the exchange students back to Montpellier by dinner time. Let us go, hurry!"

Zoro quickly packed up his stuff, leaving the number out so he could carry it on his person instead of in his bag. "Hey, Sanji, there was this guy at the cafe. He left me his number. I think his name was Ace."

"Yes? And what about it?" He paused a moment to admire a beautiful woman that was walking by.

"Well, he was talking to me, but a lot of the things he said weren't in my Introductory Spanish course. I think he said...' Te enamoré a primera vista..' Do you know what that means?"

Sanji, resisting the urge to make fun of Zoro's poorly spoken Spanish, looked away from the woman and straight back at Zoro. The green haired man was blushing a bit as he expectantly waited for Sanji's answer, though he already seemed to have an idea as to what the Spanish guy had said. Sanji was a little surprised at first, but then his mouth turned upwards, smiling like he knew something Zoro didn't. "What it means, Zoro," he said as they climbed on the bus, "is that you should call him as soon as possible and tell him 'yo también'."

**The End**

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><p><strong><span>Author's Note<span>**

**I'd like to thank the lovely people that helped me out with the Spanish corrections~ A lesson to all: translators don't work very well at all.**

Mmmm...I feel like the ending still isn't quite right...

1) l'Olonnais is the original French version of 'Roronoa'. There was a French pirate named l'Olonnais and that's where Oda got the name

2) Encantado de conocerte. ¿Puedo sentarme aquí?" = Nice to meet you. Can I sit here?

3) J'ai trouvé le crétin. = I found the moron.

This was originally suppossed to go in with my drabbles, but I figured I'd have to finish my miniseries before i could post this one, and, frankly, i was too impatient. So here it is!

-PD


End file.
